Redemption Jadeite's side story
by Sheankelor
Summary: This happens between chapter 2 and chapter 3 of "Redemption". It is told from Jadeite's point of view. Part of the "Tainted Gifts" story line. Rated T just in case. Written for the sm monthly Post series month. Please, let me know if you enjoy.
1. Not brokened, healed

Title: Not broken, Healed  
Author: Ree  
Theme: Post-series ("Broken Down Angel" by Nazareth )  
Genre: General  
Version: Manga/Anime (Crystal Tokyo)  
Rating: G

All the characters you know aren't mine.. well I borrowed them for just a small while, and without permission. Any that are mine, I hope you like them

Not broken, Healed 

_AN: This story is based in my "Tainted Gifts" universe. _

Jadeite shut the door behind him. In his mind he could still see her. Her red hair was now washed through with moonlight, bleaching it to a strawberry blonde, and her eyes were a pale green. _'Neo-Queen Serenity trusts her. But then again, she is always trusting. She trusted us, which I'm glad about, but this time...'_

He heard a door close further down the hall. Peering in the direction of the sound, Jadeite saw the new head of surveillance walk towards her office. _'Endymion trusts Kameko, too. '_ Narrowing his eyes, he watched her walk, looking for any sign, any similarities, significant or insignificant, between the old Queen Beryl and her reincarnation. Quietly, he followed her.

When Kameko entered her new office area, she smiled and greeted everyone there. With a gentle laugh at her own lack of knowledge, she accepted help in finding her desk and getting her computer talking to the network. Glancing towards the door, she spotted the man who had followed her. _'That is Lord Jadeite. I wonder what he wants?'_ Watching him out of the corner of her eye, she waited for him to speak to her.

Jadeite turned and left the room. As he walked back to his room, he felt a gray cloud settling around him. _'Why? Why is she here? Why was she reborn? What does this mean?'_ Closing his door behind him, he caught sight of himself in a mirror. _'And why am I the one depressed? She should be. Even if she doesn't remember. She should be the one lost and depressed. The one she leaned on, Queen Metallia, is gone.'_ He remembered her sunny smile, and general overall happy disposition from the interview. It was the opposite of what he had expected. When he heard that they had found the reincarnation of Beryl, he had expected her to be broken, listless, and apathetic.

Pouring a drink, he settled to stare out the window. _'Maybe the King and Queen are right. Maybe she was healed just like we are. I wonder what she is like without Queen Metallia?'_ Swirling his drink around, Jadeite decided that he needed to observe their new head of surveillance.


	2. Revising old impressions

Title: Revising old impressions  
Author: Ree  
Theme: Post-series (excuse)  
Genre: General  
Version: Manga/Anime (Crystal Tokyo)  
Rating: G

All the characters you know aren't mine.. well I borrowed them for just a small while, and without permission. Any that are mine, I hope you like them

Revising old impressions 

_AN: This story is based in my "Tainted Gifts" universe. It follows "Not Broken, Healed"._

For several months, Jadeite used any excuse he could think of to follow her. Watching Beryl's reborn self was becoming a habit. Jadeite didn't make it too obvious, he was too good for that, but he did know when she came into work, left work, had lunch, and every time she noticed Endymion. That was his main worry, her falling for Endymion again, and starting the vicious cycle once more.

Sitting in the garden near Kameko's office, he listened to the light chatter floating out the window. _'The others are starting to wonder. They either think that I'm being too suspicious, or that I'm enamored.'_ He ran his finger over a green stone now entwined in a necklace. He was still free, and from what he had observed so far showed that the Queen was right. Beryl was healed.

Letting his necklace fall back to his chest, Jadeite picked a dandelion that had popped up in the flower garden border. _'And a healed Beryl would never try to bind souls to her.'_ He twirled the flower around watching the color blur. He dropped the flower as he was jolted back to the present by an all too familiar tone. He absentmindedly caught the falling flower before it could hit the ground as he directed his attention to the window. He expected to see fire, curses, people, or something to come flying out the window any moment now. Instead, he heard Beryl's voice scolding, but it was tempered, honed to a stern tone instead of the cold, insane, furious tone of his memory. And from what he could tell, she had a good reason to be aggravated. _'Healed or not, she still has a lot of the same personality flaws. But she has learned control. It's like a temperamental child that has matured well. Sure the temperament is still there, but so is the ability to work around it, to control it, to...'_

Something came flying out the window pulling him out of his musings. Jadeite watched as a thin cable went soaring out into the garden. Somewhere deep inside, he knew it wasn't Beryl who had snapped.


	3. Banishing old shadows

Title: Banishing old shadows   
Author: Ree  
Theme: Post-series (electric)  
Genre: General  
Version: Manga/Anime (Crystal Tokyo)  
Rating: G

All the characters you know aren't mine.. well I borrowed them for just a small while, and without permission. Any that are mine, I hope you like them

Banishing old shadows

_AN: This story is based in my "Tainted Gifts" universe. It follows "Revising old impressions "._

Long sword and poniard in hand, Jadeite stood in the practice salle. He was here to let go of everything; all his tension, fears, and worries. Lifting the blades, he started going through the warm up routines. As he progressed through them, he felt the tension sliding out of his body and into the air around him. With his muscles loosened, Jadeite continued into the practice routines, and his felt his fears and worries join the tension.

With his focus so completely on releasing everything, he didn't notice the electricity starting to dance down the blades. Twirling the blades in a precise pattern, Jadeite came to the end of the practice routine. Standing in the pattern's final stance, controlling his breathing, he noticed a shadow thickening in the center of the salle. Watching it with fascination, he realized that the shadows were from him. They were everything he had been pouring out. _'Good! I can finally take on my problems in a decisive battle.'_

Swirling his blades around, a feral grin crossed Jadeite's face when he saw the form in the shadows. Her hair and eyes were the color of blood, and her dress was a black as night. _'Queen Beryl! You have haunted my steps, my thoughts, for far too long. Now I'm going to banish you.'_

Moving forward with the knowledge born of training and the will born from years of groveling, Jadeite delighted in the the electrical sparks arching from the sword and poniard. When he slashed at her, Queen Beryl blocked his sword with her arm. The electric sparks streamed up her arm, shattering it into billions of pieces. She screamed, and the shadows thickened around her. Swinging again, his blow struck the center of her chest. Queen Beryl broke into pieces, revealing the shadowy face of Queen Metallia. Glaring at his true enemy, the one that had corrupted the original Beryl, he watched for an opening. A growl escaped his throat as he attacked. Summoning a magnetic field, he enclosed Queen Metallia. Condensing it around her, Jadeite started spinning the field and then struck with his sword. The magnetic field and the metal caused an electric current, shocking Queen Metallia until she went up in smoke.

Lowering his guard, Jadeite watched the shadows fade. In the last piece to disappear, he saw the smiling face of Kameko, finally free of Metallia's shadow. _'Now, maybe I can accept you.'_


	4. A new start

Title: A new start  
Author: Ree  
Theme: Post-series (green)  
Genre: General  
Version: Manga/Anime (Crystal Tokyo)  
Rating: G

All the characters you know aren't mine.. well I borrowed them for just a small while, and without permission. Any that are mine, I hope you like them

A new start

_AN: This story is based in my "Tainted Gifts" universe. It follows "Banishing old shadows "._

Jadeite stared as Kameko walked across the palace grounds, heading for her office. _'It is Sunday. Neo-Queen Serenity would have a fit if she knew that Kameko planned to work on her off day.'_ Dusting off the seat of his pants, he started to follow her. _'It's that new upgrade. It has messed with a lot of the older systems, and she is trying to make everything compatible.'_ He remembered the actual upgrade. That had been an intense time in the surveillance department. One of the junior members of the department had lost it and started throwing cables everywhere. It had taken Kameko two hours to find the one that had sailed into the garden.

Shaking his head, Jadeite stopped just outside the office door. Looking through the little window in the door, he watched as she settled down at her desk and started typing away. With his hand on her doorknob, he contemplated helping her. The sun glinted off one of the monitors. _'Computers. Super Sailor Mercury says I can't go near the computers unless I release my transformation.'_

The memory of Mercury shoving him out of the command center was still fresh in his mind even though it happened so very long ago. The other Sailor Senshi had stared at her in surprise. Once they were outside the door, Mercury had informed him that even when he wasn't using his powers he was surrounded by a large magnetic field. _'And magnetic fields are the bane to computer systems as old as these are. That is one reason for the upgrade. Do I want to help her that bad?'_ His hand rested on the doorknob, and the sound of the keyboard from the other side of the door echoed around him. He knew it was more a question of whether he trusted her.

Letting his gaze rest on Kameko, Jadeite waited for the revulsion, the suspicion, and the small tendrils of fear to appear. They never came. Glancing around the deserted hallway, he made doubly sure no one was around. Once he was positive, he released his transformation. Looking down at the his outfit, he was glad that it was a fairly casual pair of slacks and a pale green shirt. Opening the door, he walked in.

Kameko looked up as the door opened. The man who entered looked familiar, but she wasn't sure where she had seen him before. With her finger on the alarm button, she watched him cross the room.

Jadeite's eyes skimmed across the computer screens. _'Please don't mess up. Please.'_ When his eyes rested on Kameko, he noticed the worry that she was trying to hide in her pale green eyes. He stopped. "It's okay. I'm Jadeite. I'm just being casual today."

Kameko's eyes widened. _'How did I not recognize him?'_ She gestured to the seat near her desk. "Lord Jadeite, what can I help you with?"

Settling in the seat, Jadeite fought the smile that tried to surface. She sounded so resigned. "I came here to ask you that. What can I help you with?"

Kameko stared at him for just a moment before she recovered. "You understand computers?"

Jadeite shook his head no. "I haven't the pleasure of using them that much. But I can type, and I can read. So if you just explain the simple stuff, I'll work on that and you can handle the big stuff."

Kameko fidgeted with the plant that was on her desk as she considered his offer. "Okay! I'll take you up on this." Grabbing a notebook off her desk, she lead him to one of the computer terminals. Typing quickly, she pulled up a large file folder. "Okay go through each of these files and change this... " She flipped the notebook open and showed him a strand of code. "... to this." She pointed to another strand of code. "When you're done, we'll test the camera. If the lights are in the green, we are good to go. But if they're in the red..." She left the sentence hanging.

Grabbing a pencil, Jadeite lightly underlined the two codes. "I think I can do that."

"Thank you." Kameko briefly rested a hand on his shoulder. Jadeite waited for the old feelings to surface. They didn't, instead a new one did. As she walked back to her desk, Jadeite struggled with the feeling of comradeship that was blossoming inside of him.


	5. A Diplomatic Mission

Title: Diplomatic Mission?  
Author: Ree  
Theme: Post-series (China)  
Genre: General  
Version: Manga/Anime Crystal Tokyo  
Rating: G

All the characters you know aren't mine.. well I borrowed them for just a small while, and without permission. Any that are mine, I hope you like them.

Diplomatic Mission?

_AN: This story is based in my "Tainted Gifts" universe. It follows "A new start"._

Mei Ling searched the dinner party, watching for any of the four lords of Crystal Tokyo. _'Mom and Dad want me to catch one of them. It would seal the relationship between China and Japan.'_ She caught sight of the one with white hair. _'He looks too formidable.'_ Even as she watched, a dark haired lady walked up to and rested her hand on his arm. The smile the white haired lord gave her let Mei know that he wasn't free. Her eyes narrowed just a bit as she looked for her next prey.

Alice and Emiko searched the crowd. Somewhere out there were Zoisite, Nephrite, and a predatory female. That was what Kameko had said. The predatory female was supposed to be in the Chinese delegation. Alice spotted Jadeite working the crowd, she also noticed that he was keeping a good distance between himself and the Chinese ladies. _'Okay, I found one blond headed one, so where is the other one?'_ A movement near the far corner caught her attention. _'There he is.'_ She touched Emiko's arm. "Zoisite is that way, but I haven't seen Nephrite."

Emiko's eyes narrowed. "I see him, and some dark haired person is trying to plaster herself against him." She smiled slightly as Nephrite attempted to move away from the girl. "And I think he needs a rescue. Do you want to help, or are you off to Zoisite?"

Alice caught the plotting look on Emiko's face. "I think I better come with you. We don't want to mess up relationships with a foreign country." Emiko's eyes sparkled as they made their way across the room.

Nephrite tried to put a little more space between himself and Mei Ling. _'Why is she hanging? I haven't flirted with her at all.'_ A small chill ran down his back. _'She's here. And if she sees this little one hanging too much...'_ He still remembered the first time he meet Emiko, and he knew exactly where she kept her chisels. He felt her getting closer.

"Lord Nephrite, I hear that the palace gardens are marvelous." Mei leaned closer to him and rested her hand back on his sleeve as she gazed meaningfully into his eyes. Her answer came from behind her.

"Yes, they are marvelous. Would you like a tour tomorrow morning?" Emiko slid her arm through Nephrite's free arm. "We have nothing planned for tomorrow morning, do we Nephrite?" She looked up at Nephrite for confirmation.

Nephrite looked down into the ocean blue eyes peering up at him. The calmness in her tone belied the jealousy sparkling in her eyes. Smiling down at her, trying to belay her fears and anger, Nephrite answered her. "No, we don't have anything planned." He turned his attention back to Mei. "Miss Ling, please allow me to introduce you to my wife, Emiko." He spotted Alice as she moved next to Emiko. "And this is Lord Zoisite's wife, Alice."

Mei barely stopped herself from pinching her lips together. She bowed slightly towards the brown haired lady, and then to the lady with the blond streaks running through her light brown hair.

Nephrite continued the introductions. "Emiko, Alice, please allow my to introduce the daughter of the Chinese Delegate, Miss Mei Ling." Emiko and Alice returned Mei's bow. 

Mei used a saccharine smile to hide her aggravation. _'There is only one left. But I need to confirm that Kunzite is married.'_ "Tomorrow morning would be nice. Thank you. Will Lord Kunzite and his wife be able to join us?"

Nephrite caught Kunzite's attention and silently asked him to come there. Kunzite and Chieko head towards them. "Lord Kunzite is coming this way. Let's ask him when he gets here." The conversation drifted onto safe topics while they waited. Kunzite and Chieko agreed to the outing. At Mei's quiet suggestion, Jadeite was invited along.


	6. In need of help

Title: In need of help  
Author: Ree  
Theme: Post-series  
Genre: General  
Version: Manga/Anime Crystal Tokyo  
Rating: G

All the characters you know aren't mine.. well I borrowed them for just a small while, and without permission. Any that are mine, I hope you like them.

In need of help

_AN: This story is based in my "Tainted Gifts" universe. It follows "Diplomatic Mission?"._

Jadeite propped beneath the surveillance office window while he waited for the others to arrive. He absentmindedly listened to Kameko giving quiet orders to the security guards. Eventually, the sound of her voice was drowned out by the sound of the approaching group. Standing up straight, Jadeite watched as his friends and members of the Chinese delegation rounded the corner. Bowing to them, he joined them on their walk.

Mei's manipulated everybody until she was walking next to Jadeite. Observing him out of the corner of her eye, she decided that she could live with him quite easily. _'Blond hair, soft spoken, not too tall. And he is free according to the gossip last night. Perfect.'_ With great care, she started to gently flirt with him.

Jadeite side stepped the dignitary's daughter once again. Reaching out his hand, he stabilized her before she fell. He barely suppressed a snort. The dignitary was acting completely oblivious to his daughter's antics. This was the third time she had tried to fall into him. She had finally given up on the squealing at every bug and then trying to jump into his arms. Chieko had offered to escort her back into the palace if the bugs scared her that much.

Shaking his head just slightly, he continued to escort her to see the rose garden. As they walked into the garden, he spotted the surveillance camera. From somewhere deep inside rose the urge to call out to Kameko for help. He had no clue how to get rid of this child.

Kameko glanced at the screens tracking where Jadeite was. It had started out subconsciously, but after the last half hour, she was quite conscious of what she was doing. When he caught Miss Ling again, she glared at the screen. _'Get away from him! Can't you tell he wants nothing to do with you?! Really!'_ Jerking her attention away from the scene, she continued her routine checks of the grounds.

The next time she spotted them, Jadeite was looking straight into a camera. His eyes called to her for help. Shutting off her monitor, Kameko signaled to her second in command. "I'm taking a break. See you in a little while." She headed out the door.

As she wound her way through the garden, Kameko wondered why she was doing this. _'Jadeite is a grown man. He can handle that _thing_ quite well on his own.'_ The memory of the girl's smirk when Jadeite wasn't looking flashed through her mind. _'Of course, the chit is being sneaky, and there isn't much he can do to thwart her.'_

She made it to the rose garden. Listening carefully, Kameko tracked down them down.

Mei had gotten Lord Jadeite alone, and was finally making progress. She felt that if she could just get him to kiss her, she would have won. He would be hers. Standing up on a log, she pretended to fall once again. Jadeite considered letting her hit the ground, but knew that it would be considered an incident if he did. Reaching out, he stopped her from hitting the ground. Mei angled her head in attempt to line up with his lips.

Kameko stopped dead as she surveyed the scene in front of her. Rage started building up from deep inside of her. It took her but a few moments to understand what had happened. The rage climbed even higher.

Jadeite knew that they were not alone. He turned his head at the last moment, and his eyes landed on Kameko. Mei's face landed on his shoulder. Jadeite froze as he stared into the face that he had never expected to see again. The face of Beryl. He immediately released Mei and stepped back, his eyes never leaving Kameko's face. _'No, it is not Beryl, it is Kameko. A jealous Kameko... Kameko is jealous of me?'_

Kameko clamped down on the rage. She knew she could not let it out. _'It helps that he isn't holding her any more.'_ She decided not to think of why that made her mad.

Jadeite waited for the fear, but instead he all he felt was trust. That trust was rewarded as Kameko gained control of herself. Striding quickly to her side, he bowed slightly to her. "Am I needed?"

Kameko detected the silent plea behind the question. "Yes, I need you, but we need to escort Miss Ling back to her party." Turning to the girl, Kameko used all her control to keep her face blank. "Please, come this way."

Using her minicomputer, Kameko determined where the others were. As she directed them back to the main party, Jadeite made sure that Kameko was between him and Mei.


End file.
